Opinions

[WYTige?]

A buddy of mine is seriously considering this Malibu on Onlyinboards http://www.onlyinboards.com/2004-Mal...nia-51499.aspx

He's looking for some input on both boat and dealer if anyone on here is familiar with either. Primarily he's looking to surf, wakeboard, pull tubes, general family boat. I've seen comments about different Malibu hulls being diamond or wake hulls. Not sure of the difference and I don't know if anyone could enlighten us here on the type of hull this boat has.

I realize he could get on the BU forum but I said I trusted this site so give me what you got. Thanks in advance.

[Bryan]

I know absolutely nothing about Malibu's hull designs, but that's a pretty clean looking '04

[shemakesmesmile]

I good friend of mine as an 02' Malibu VLX with the same hull and is probably one of my favorite boats that I've rode behind. He has about 1600 hours on his and runs great.

The surf wake is tall, has a lot of push, but not very long. The wakeboarding wake is probably the best I've rode on with tons of pop. The only complaint that I can think of is the perfect pass, and not sure if it was boat specific or the perfect pass. Sometimes when weighted down and with several people on board it would speed up and slow down pretty noticeably.

[retox1]

Malibu changed the hull in 05 or 06 and the newer one is supposed to have a far better surf and wakeboard wake. Before i bought my Tige i looked at a few Malibus and did lots of research on the Malibu forums. Most people there told me to pass on that hull if my main goal was surfing. For a all around boat that will be doing lots of different watersports it might be a pretty decent choice. Should surf ok and have a decent wake.

[shemakesmesmile]

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Found a few pictures of the wakes

[Jesture]

You can tell the difference between diamond and wake hulls if you can view the boat from the back. Where the hull meets the side of the boat, a diamond hull will round down at the very edge (I would say about 1.5 inches) and a wake hull will round up, or be a smooth transition from hull to side. The sales push for a diamond hull is it will lift the boat out of the water more when you get over 24mph, so smaller wake for watersking. For surfing, both hulls will product the same wave. The boat listed in the link above is a wake hull...I can tell by looking at it plus the diamond hull wasn't available that year.

[WYTige?]

Thanks for all the replies fellas. Much appreciated.

[Wakeman22]

Tell him to look for a Tige. Much better surf boat and after the kids learn the tunes will be put away.

[DLafont]

Looks super clean, I don't have personal experience with this model boat though. If the price fits his budget and he like the way it drives, then why not? For the price and condition of the boat, it's not a huge risk. If he and his kids are starting out, then they should be able to have lots of fun with this boat. My two pesos...